The Fightins reported earlier today that there were rumblings the June 25th-27th series originally scheduled to take place in Toronto could be shifted to Philadelphia due to the G20 Summit.

Phillies beat writer Todd Zolecki also wrote on the possibility of the change in venue. He spoke with Katy Feeney, MLB’s Senior VP of Scheduling and Club Relations and basically she could not confirm or deny whether the series will be in Philadelphia or Toronto.

Things are still up in the air at this point, but I find it hard to believe that the G20 Summit might be wreaking so much havoc with the Blue Jays schedule that it would cause them to move baseball games to an entirely different city.

There is still a possibility either the Friday June 25th or Sunday June 27th game could be canceled, which would lead the way for a day/night double-header to be played on Saturday June 26th.

Ian Hunter

Ian has been writing about the Toronto Blue Jays since 2007. He enjoyed the tail-end of the Roy Halladay era and vividly remembers the Alex Rodriguez "mine" incident. He'll also retell the story of Game 5 of the ALDS to his son for the next 20 years.

Anonymous

While you'd may think that the G20 isn't enough to that much havoc, it most definitely is. I worked the Economic Summit in 88 (I guess that dates me!) and with demonstrations (which are assured!), road closures and police escorts for diplomatic staff, the additional security staff (and military), and other sundry items, it's gonna be nuts. Take it from me, havoc is an appropriate description.

Aquamelli, so long as you didn't buy tickets you should be good. It hasn't been confirmed yet either way, but I guess anything can happen. Always a good idea to have your passport ready anyway, even if the series does switch.

Anon, I guess there is much more work behind the scenes with the G20 than I thought. I can see why they'd rather just move it – it's probably easier than trying to cancel a game or fit in a double header.

The failure here I believe isn't of MLB scheduling games during the G20, but of the Canadian government moving the G20 to Toronto the same weekend as Jays games and to pick a venue right beside the stadium to make matters worse.

The G20 was originally scheduled to be held in Muskoka north of the city, but that became impossible once the event grew from G8 to G20. The Canadian government dragged its feet though on making the move, only announcing it late last year after the 2010 MLB schedule was done I believe.

And it's not like it had to relocate to Toronto – they could have moved to another city elsewhere in Ontario. Or it need not have been right down by the Jays stadium – some suggested the relatively self-enclosed Exhibition ground or why not to Mississauga or some other suburb with convention facilities and hotels aplenty?

No, if the Jays games do get ruined – either by cancellation (though I doubt this) or just the huge pain of navigating the expected havok downtown to get to the stadium, you can blame the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, not MLB.

I agree, I really can't see the games not being played. This issue has been around for six months now and if anything was going to have happened, it would have been done already. Head downtown/to the stadium early as there's liable to be delays, but otherwise the show will go on I'd wager.

Jabalong, my bad – I assumed that the G20 Summit was scheduled to be in Toronto years in advance of the MLB schedule. It's very strange of them to move the venue from Muskoka to Toronto – now the Blue Jays have to scramble to figure out what to do. I have no problem blaming Harper for this one.

Mattt, my instincts tell me the series will stay in Toronto, but you never know. It seems very late to be changing the schedule all of a sudden.

Sorry guys, looks like it's O-Phil-cial. Check for an update above on the story. Not sure what the Blue Jays are planning to do, as it robs season ticket holders of three less home games. I wonder what they'll do to compensate?